The present invention concerns a rapid fitting for tubes, in particular a connection fitted with a toothed spring washer for gripping the tube.
At present there are several rapid fitting devices which enable tubes to be connected to each other or tubes to mechanical devices such as boilers, solenoid valves, tanks, distributors, etc.
These devices have in common:
The possibility of inserting the end of the tube into the fitting in one single operation, guaranteeing at the same time a seal and locking of the tube itself;
The possibility of disconnecting the tube by means of a double operation consisting in applying pressure on the fitting and pulling the tube outwards from the fitting;
The presence of a seal (O-ring or other).
These fittings also have in common:
A lever element which, when pressed, allows the tube to be extracted from the fitting;
A spring element for gripping the tube;
A supporting element of the spring element.
These elements may be present only in part, in that some of them may carry out several functions at the same time: for example, the lever element may also act as the tube gripping element.
Therefore, the state of art as regards to rapid fittings can be summarised into the following two types.
Fittings where the release lever element and the tube gripping element form one component. It is made up of axial spring brackets of almost the same length or longer than the diameter of the element itself. This type of fitting is usually without the other elements in that the functions of containing the top and bottom of the release element are performed by the particular undercuts machined directly inside the body of the fitting.
Fittings where the lever and gripping elements are separate. In this case, the former is similar in all fittings, as it has a cylindrical shape with a front nosepiece which interacts with the gripping element and a flange operated by the user. The gripping element is, on the other hand, usually a spring washer equipped with teeth (or petals) positioned in a radial formation, oriented towards the inside, that is towards the external surface of the tube, and shaped similar to the toothed washers used as an anti-unscrewing device for screws.
The fittings of the first type have the drawback of using only the elasticity of the seal as a means of producing an opening of the tube gripping element when the tube requires to be disconnected, so much so that this causes a lowering of performance when, over a period of time, the seal loses its elasticity and wears, sometimes making it impossible to extract the tube when operating the release element.
The present invention involves an incorporated spring washer type rapid fitting for tubes, but achieved using a new combination and shape of the elements and where the spring washer is exploited in an original way enabling the fitting to be user friendly, more efficient and ensuring safe locking of tube inserted into it.